The sky grew darker as the fight lasted longer.
Brown and the paper masked man had been fighting for a while now with neither side gaining an upper hand.
They had left minor cuts on each other, but nothing too deep or life threatening.
Their fight was this way because one party was suicidal in their reactions towards attacks.
The masked man didn't care to block if it meant that he could take his opponent down with him.
Blocking only when an exchange couldn't be made, or an injury occurred to another.
Each clash produced shockwaves that pushed both combatants back, even shattering the tree around them.
Boom!
Once again, both parties clashed and were pushed back by the shockwaves.
They both paused to catch their breath as their chest heaved up and down.
Brown and this masked man had been using their Blood Force to fight continuously.
Even if they were at the Tidal Wave rank, their Blood Force wasn't infinite.
"Are you tired?" Caleb asked as he appeared beside Brown.
"Tired?" Brown chuckled. "Not at all. I'm just getting started."
Brown finally used his Bloodlust ability.
Upon its activation, his opponent felt as though his strength was being sapped away.
Even the Blood Force he had left was slowly stripped away from him.
"Ugh!" The man held onto his stomach as he coughed up black blood. The liquid stained his faceless mask before rolling down the sides of his chin.
A moment of daze, and the man lost sight of Brown.
Brown's sword fell like a whip, slashing with renewed and fiercer Blood Force.
Just when his opponent was about to be killed, another sword appeared and blocked Brown's strike.
Boom!
The shockwaves pushed three silhouettes apart.
The other paper masked man had joined the fight. He held onto his comrade as more black blood spilled out of the man's pores.
"You've poisoned him!"
For the first time, one of them spoke. As for the man who had been poisoned, even if he wanted to speak, speech was proving difficult for him.
"For a knight to lace his sword with poison is despicable." The second paper masked man uttered.
His insult was met with a chuckle from Brown.
Did he lace his blade with poison?
Not exactly. Since his breakthrough, his Blood Force had carried traces of his Bloodlust ability. So if one is injured by Brown's Blood Force, it was only a matter of his decision for the injury to become poisonous.
If this weren't a natural ability, then perhaps this would have been a despicable act.
But what did honor matter to the dead?
It was at this point that Marcus stepped forward and said, "The two of you aren't from the same organization as those we killed earlier, right?"
A few seconds passed, and no response came.
"That has to be it. Are you the ones who want me dead? What will you gain from that?"
Still no reply.
"An assassin organization or worse… a cult?"
"Now you really have to die!" A third voice came out of nowhere, and a silhouette appeared a few feet away behind Marcus.
There were three paper-masquerade men.
The moment this man appeared, Caleb moved and charged at the new addition. At the same time, Brown charged at the man who blocked his finishing strike earlier on.
The man who had just revealed himself was caught off guard as Caleb had come without a sound.
Moreover, his sense of hearing seemed to have stopped working. However, unlike the Flowing Rank opponents who were destabilized by Caleb's peculiarity, this man's ability to move wasn't too stifled.
What is this? Why can't I hear anything?
Even after their swords clashed, the man still struggled to hear a sound.
If it weren't for the fact that their weapons' clash created sparks in the air, he would have believed that he was stuck in an illusion.
Marcus continued to watch the battle unfold while Joshua kept an eye on the masked man who had been poisoned by Brown. He had attempted to shoot him down once or twice, but the man blocked or dodged the arrow despite his condition
"They must be cult members." Marcus suddenly said with certainty. This was huge news.
It had been decades since a cult dared to set foot into Ulha. If this is reported to the Imperial Capital with evidence, the kingdom might shake.
Joshua looked to the side, believing a part of Marcus's words, but his focus wasn't on the young lord anymore.
In his gaze, there was a fourth figure hiding in the distance behind the tree.
No one else had sensed this person and if it wasn't for his bloodline ability, Joshua wouldn't have been able to see this person, either.
However, he hadn't said anything about it.
This was also the reason why he hadn't coated his arrows with Blood Force and ended the poisoned masked man's life.
He was creating an opening for the last person to take so that he could be caught off guard.
But this person was quite a cautious type.
Joshua watched the invisible figure dart around the forest from time to time, moving as though he was searching for the perfect time to attack.
At the same time, Marcus's sense of unease only continued to heighten.
The enemies were in front of him, being slightly overwhelmed by his men.
Why did he still feel this way?
Marcus frowned as he looked around, trying to look for something that was out of place.
And then a thought crossed his mind; could he use [Inspect] on his surroundings?
After all, the first time he used the ability was to observe an inanimate object.
The moment Marcus thought of this, he placed his hand into the bag of mana crystals and then activated his skill.
He didn't have a target in particular, but Marcus focused on the floor.
His mana reserves quickly started to become empty, and at the same time, it was being replenished by the energy from the mana crystals.
In a few seconds, translucent words appeared before his eyes.
[Devilish Transmutation Formation (Faceless): A formation array of devilish origins used to transform a being from one state to another. Requires the faces of corpses and blood.]
[Devilish Summoning Formation (Faceless): A formation array used to summon consciousness from another dimension.]
Marcus hadn't even read through the information completely and his mind was already going on overdrive.
This is it!
This is what has been making me feel uncomfortable. Someone had drawn these Formation Arrays around us without our knowledge.
Does that mean that there are still others hiding around, how many of them?
Marcus wasn't surprised by the fact that these were Devilish Techniques. Or at least it didn't come as a surprise as he had already guessed that they were facing cultists.
Rather, he was shocked at the fact that two formations had been drawn around them.
More importantly, the summoning formation array.
Even though his level 1 Arcane Knowledge didn't contain much information about summoning formations, it categorized these types of formations as Mysterious.
To the point where that was the only information about the formation in his head.
But, what are they trying to summon? Wouldn't that be exposing their existence? Surely such a type of magic would leave traces.
Marcus thought.
"Joshua," he called out softly.
"Yes, Milord." Joshua moved closer.
"Don't react strongly to what I say. There should be a few more men hiding around the area. They should know a concealment technique or spell."
Joshua's eyes widened but he soon controlled his reactions lest he make the opponent more cautious of them.
How did the young lord figure this out? I thought I was the only one who could see that guy.
"Yes, Milord. In my gaze, there's been an invisible silhouette who's been running around. I've been trying to bait him to move closer, but nothing has worked."
This time Marcus realized why Joshua had been firing weak shots at the poisoned masked man.
"You should have killed him since. The sneaky bastard drew a few scary Formation Arrays around us." Marcus suppressed the urge to shout.
Joshua's logic wasn't completely wrong or bad, but that was a logic to be used when one was certain that they could counter every move of their opponent.
What if they summoned a very powerful consciousness?
Cults weren't really feared because of their numbers, rather, they were feared partly because of their ways of summoning powerful beings who shouldn't exist in this world.
"Where's the bastard now?" He asked.
"Northwest, sitting behind a tree," Joshua replied.
Marcus resisted the urge to look, but he was still slightly surprised that Joshua could see that much.
Their surroundings were quite dark, save for the few lightning streaks that flashed in the sky and illuminated the earth for a few seconds.
"Kill him now," Marcus ordered.
Like a trigger, that order pushed Joshua to move.
He mobilized his Blood Force and pulled an arrow out.
The arrow was pointing at the poisoned masked man as more Blood Force gathered on its tip.
After a second, Joshua exhaled slightly, adjusting his stance.
The masked man saw that this next attack would be different, perhaps even difficult to dodge or block, so he prepared himself.
Right before Joshua released the arrow, he changed aim and direction.
Twang!
The arrow blitzed through the air, crossing the distance in a flash and arriving before the tree where the last masked man was hiding.
Not only did this move catch him off guard, but it moved too fast for him to realize that he was the target.
Boom!
The arrow exploded the tree, creating enough force that it also pierced the man's torso and caused his lower body to explode into a bloody paste.
Joshua's shot brought a moment of silence back to the forest.
Everyone was stunned.
From where he was, he could see the man dragging his critically injured body forward.
Though he was masked, Joshua could tell that the man was speaking.
Notching another arrow to the bow, he aimed at him and made his shot.
The arrow struck true, killing the man.
"Milord, he's dead," Joshua reported.
However, this didn't bring any ease to Marcus's heart.
What is still the problem? Could it be that?
He had just thought it when a guttural roar cut through the commotion of the night.
"Roar!!"
It did not sound human.
Everyone present felt a dangerous chill run down their spines.